The
group is now betting it can muscle further into the digital world
– aarp.org received 5.3 million unique visitors in May 2012, up from 4.5
million in May 2011 — with a coupon site called Hot Deals that’s geared to the 79 million Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1965) whose sunset years are on the horizon.

There
are currently 13 brands participating in Hot Deals — including Dell,
Radio Shack, MLB, GNC, British Airways, The Hartford — which offer AARP
members discounts like $5 off a Radio Shack purchase of more than $90 or free shipping on a pair of Dockers. AARP takes a cut of the deals redeemed.

“Most people don’t realize the No. 1 reason people join
(AARP) is for discounts,” said Peter Zeuschner, AARP’s senior manager of
advertising sales for the northeast region. “We didn’t have a discount
platform, so we launched this to allow one place for our members to find
different offers.”

The timing might be right. Advertisers are
often obsessed with chasing youth, with the idea that their brand
preferences aren’t yet set in stone. But older Americans are far more
likely to use coupons; according to GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer,
compared to those age 18-49, 50+ consumers are 20 percent more likely
to use coupons, and 21 percent are more likely to be heavy coupon users.
Additionally, Baby Boomers have become extremely Web savvy. According to an April 2012 Pew study,
53 percent of American adults age 65 and older use the Internet or
email. According to the AARP, about half of its members are working
(full or part time), while the rest spend their days in retirement. And
the age breakdowns: 33 percent are under 60, 46 percent between 60 and
74, and 21 percent are over 75.

You might think of the AARP as, excuse the pun, old school. In fact, it has a digital business that many publishers would envy.

Zeuschner
claims that over the past four years, aarp.org has experience 30-50
percent growth in revenue. He also said that the site gets “anywhere
from $45 CPMs on the homepage and our premium channels are north of
$25.” Hot Deals works on guaranteed impressions, making the buy more
affordable.

“This is part of an opportunity to allow advertisers
to bring these offers to members in a cost-effective way,” Zeuschner
said. “Most advertisers have a hard time justifying $45 CPMs.”

According
to Zeuschner, average time spent on aarp.org is 29 minutes, indicating
that there’s some type of justification for the high CPMs. But with Hot
Deals, this is a program that’s an easier point of entry for brands.

“We’re
serving two needs: the member need for discounts and the advertiser
need to have one place to offer discounts on a performance-based
platform,” Zeuschner said. “The one thing [the site] lacked — in terms
for members and advertisers – is one area where all sorts of different
advertiser discounts can live.”

The 50+ generation goes online -- and brands and publishers have
finally gotten the message. Some, like AARP and Perion, are trying to
reach this demographic with deals and gadgets.

AARP
launched a Web page on its site specific to Hot Deals, offering brands
like Dell, The Hartford, Major League Baseball, and Radio Shack a direct
connection to the 50+ crowd. The deals aim to reach
AARP's nearly 35 million members -- a majority comprising baby boomers,
which Nielsen estimates control $230 billion in sales.

About 74%
of all ARRP members sign up looking for discounts,
according to Peter Zeuschner, AARP Northeast media sales manager. "The
main site generates about 5 million monthly unique visitors," he said.
"They spend about 29 minutes on the site."

Zeuschner said the content related to social security issues,
technology and health services targeted to the 50+ generation keep
visitors on the site. There are more than 20,000 recipes on the
site. Many feed between two and four people, rather than three to six.

Founded in 1958, AARP supports nearly 35 million members. Nearly one-third of the members are under age 60, about 46% are
between 60 and 74, and 21% are 75 and older.

The key to
understanding this demographic resides in recognizing that those who are
50-plus do not fear the Internet or technology, but some need a
little convincing and an easy way to access it.

Although 88% of
the Americans age 45+ consider themselves slow to adopt technology,
research by Perion Network suggests that 85% adopt a new
technology when it fits their lifestyle, and 89% will use new technology
if it’s better than what they use today.

Perion focuses on
software and technology tailored for what Adam
Goodvach, director of consumer insight, characterizes as "45+ Second
Wave Adopters (SWAs)." He found that this demographic based the decision
to adopt or buy specific technology on the practical
impact it will have on their lives.

Smartphones may not be the
answer for aging adults because of the screen size, but the quick
penetration of tablets among Americans age 45 or older offers
important clues to the future of mobile services for this demographic.
Since this group is willing to embrace technology if presented with a
com

Zeuschner said he hoped that the results of Hot Deals would speak for
themselves—AARP members have money to spend and are deal-happy—and in so
doing, help change attitudes about marketing to older people.

“There’s still a long way to go,” he said. “It’s not like people are
banging on the door saying, ‘We need to run more advertising pages in
AARP.’”

I ran the social media vehicles for Bloomberg Markets and Bloomberg Pursuits as part of my still ongoing public relations consultation engagement there. I grew their Twitter followers from 3,600 to 35,200+ in 16 months and launched their Facebook page from scratch to thousands of followers.

"We set the bar high as we wanted to get attention in influential and vertical trade media to inform ad decision makers the value of 50+ and specifically AARP's audience. Drew learned all the ins-and-outs of our business and became a true partner, identifying the best we had to offer and leveraging it... If you are looking for a senior-level PR guy without the administrative and overhead costs then Four Corners is a great choice. I would gladly work with them again.”